Thursday, September 20, 2007

ARCA's Need for (Scott) Speed

Team Red Bull and Eddie Sharp Racing are pleased to announce today that former Formula One Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Scott Speed will drive the No. 21 Red Bull Toyota in the ARCA RE/MAX Series at Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 5, 2007. This will mark Speed's debut in stock car racing.

“I come from a completely different world of racing, so there's no doubt it’s going to be a challenge learning how these cars handle, but I’m ready to get out there and see what I've got!” said Speed.

Speed’s connection with Red Bull dates back to 2002, when he won the Red Bull Driver Search, a program aimed at putting an American talent into Formula One. With Red Bull backing, Speed raced his way through the European ranks and into a full-time seat in 2006 at Red Bull Racing’s sister team, Scuderia Toro Rosso. After parting ways during the 2007 season, Speed turned his attention to landing a Red Bull-backed drive in the States.

In an effort to hone and adapt Speed's skills from F1 to stock car racing, Red Bull tapped what is arguably the best ARCA team in the field, Eddie Sharp Racing. Speed’s inaugural stock car race will have him paired with a well-established ARCA team with high-caliber equipment and the personnel to support his climb through the stock car ranks.

With Red Bull backing and the strong team support of Eddie Sharp Racing, Speed will have the best of both worlds.

44 Comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel really bad for AJ since he should have had the chance to drive an ARCA car way before he was just dumped into the Cup series. I feel Red Bull isn't giving AJ enough to help him make it in Cup. Thank goodness for Ganassi's Busch car to help him get more seat time. I think AJ will be an excellent Cup driver at some point, but, he needs more seat time. Should have had more seat time from day ONE. Go AJ...we are still behind you and Brian. That IS the Red Bull team as far as I'm concerned.

Congratulations Scott! I look foward to seeing you race at Talladega. Wow, I can't believe it will be here soon. I'm so excited. Talladega is my 2nd home. Would be great to see both TRB Toyotas in the field.

AJ should have gotten more experiance but that ship has sailed. I just hope Scott got some time in a car before jumping in the deep end at Talladega! As far as I am aware, he has never raced on any kind of oval, much less a plate track. I will be watching and rooting him on though, good luck Scott.

fsupooh83 I would say it is a very very slight indication that TRB is staying with Toyota. But I doubt it means much. It would mean more probably if Speed was driving a Chevy.

Anonymous, I agree with you that AJ needs more seat time and he does have potential. I wish Red Bull would have had setup a Busch ride for AJ and BV all year but that would have taken focus off of their cup efforts. But they did get AJ seat time this same time last year in the Truck series which I consider even better experience than ARCA. I really do not think they have an plans to replace AJ in the near future. I believe Scott Speed is more planned for the #85 car (they should put Jason Leffler in this car, as I have said before) than the #84 unless AJ really stuggles next year.

I also believe that they should have given AJ the same chance as Scott to get experience before throwing him in the cup series but they didnt. He has done so much better since getting him back in the truck and putting him in the busch series. He has come along way considering he is with such a young team. He has a steep learning curve but i think he has made over the worst part - look at his finishes in the two busch races - its only up from here!!

OK, Don't you think if they could have worked it out they would have put AJ in anything they could, Geez, get over it. There is no way in the world AJ is under any kind of pressure to perform or lose his ride. They knew going in what this was-on the job training. I don't think SS sucess or failure in stock cars has any affect on AJ or BV. More likely is a 3rd car (down the road) And please with Jason Leffler in a cup car! Brian, I almost always agree with you snd like what you write, but Leffler did not succeed with premium equiptment (JGR) He is not a Nextel Cup driver.

Why does everyone think that open wheel racers are the future nascar stars? Speed couldn't cut it in F-1 why should he be given a chance in nascar, we need a proven talent, a seasoned vet to give back good info on how to make the cars better. BV is a hell of a racer and is a future star of the sport but he is still young and this is AJ first season.

well in case anyone hasn't noticed the last F1 driver to make the switch is the new Rookie of the Year. F1 drivers have so much more skill and knowledge about racing than any other form of 4-wheel that it is only a question of laps before they get a comfort level with the cars and the tracks. Speed is simply checking it out becuase he can. Likely he will be in a red bull ride for Champ car next year anyway so everybody just chill out and enjoy another good race.

Awesome lap Brian and the 83 team! Hopefully AJ can make it too with little practice. The 22 car is the slowest hopefully he misses that will help Brian with the top 35 a lot. Hopefully it is also untrue about the Hendrick motors.

Also if they are using a Hendrick motor at TRB I am 100% positive they are going to Chevy because there is no way they would give a Toyota team one of there motors to look over. But I highly doubt this is true as I do not think Hendrick would give them a motor until their cars had the chevy bowtie on them.

By the way, I completely agree with whoever said that F1 drivers are so good that they can drive anything. Every year, in international driving competitions (Race of Champions, etc.), F1 drivers nearly always perform better than drivers from any other series. Though some guys, like Gordon, can drive anything, pound for pound, F1 drivers are the best in the world. Period.

Huge day. AJ put down one heck of a lap. He's really starting to convince me that he'll be a great teammate for Brian over the long term, and a force to reckon with week in and week out within three years.

I'm really excited about this race. Brian looks like he finally has a COT that can compete for a top 5, top 10 finish. Hopefully, he can just stay out of trouble and on the lead lap. That would be a huge, huge day.

ESPN2 was talking about the 78 using Hendrick engines now. They used them earlier in the year when Kenny was making the races regularly and then they stopped using them. Last week the 78 started using Hendrick engines again and will for the rest of the year.

Great job BV and AJ during qualifying. Now as long as they stay out of trouble and the 21 blows an engine or something, it will be an awesome race.

"F1 drivers have so much more skill and knowledge about racing than any other form of 4-wheel that it is only a question of laps before they get a comfort level with the cars and the tracks."

The reason that Montoya is reasonablly successful is that he ran IRL and Formula 1. He had oval experience enough to keep him mid-pack for Ovals and then does well on road courses. I think he is more the exception to the rule because there have been many that have tried to move from open wheel and very few have been successful (Tony Stewart).

OK, can we put it to rest now. Jayski is reporting that a TRB VP has once again said they are staying with Toyota. Sorry Mr. S. I didn't want to butcher your name by trying to remember how to spell it. :-)

It looks like the Toyota's are in the back of the pack for the final practice. I hope TRB can find some speed during the race to have a good finish especially the #83 so they can move closer to the top 35 in owner points. With the #22 out of the race it would be a good time to gain some ground!

JUST MY OPINION...... I DONT CARE WHAT KIND OF CAR THEY RUN OR WHAT KIND OF MOTOR THEY HAVE. I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THIS TEAM HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN. AND AS OF TODAY, I DONT SEE IT HAPPENING. YOU HAVE TO HAVE A GOOD CAR AND A GOOD DRIVER TO WIN IN CUP. TAKE A LOOK A ALL THE WINNERS FROM THIS YEAR. 24 -20-48-99 . I THINK THE 1 AND THE 26 GOT LUCKY. AT THIS POINT I WOULD TAKE LUCKY. I KNOW THIS IS A NEW TEAM AND THEY DO PRETTY WELL WHEN THEY QUALIFY. THE PIT CREW GETS THEM POSITION AND BV DOES HIS JOB. I LIKE DOUG R. , HE HAS MADE SOME GREAT CALLS. I JUST WISH THEY RAN BETTER. LIKE I SAID THIS IS JUST MY OPINION AND EVERYBODY HAS ONE. SO DONT TAKE IT PERSONALLY.